The 1998 animated film The Prince of Egypt, an adaptation of the Book of Exodus, has become a classic, renowned for its powerful storytelling, stunning animation, and memorable music.
One of the most fascinating aspects of this tale is the relationship between Moses and Ramses II. The movie tells a different story than its predecessors, cutting to Moses and Ramses as young men racing through the streets in chariots. The film begins as it always does, with a baby being set adrift on the Nile in hopes of giving it a better life away from the slave driving Egyptian Empire.
I was immediately struck by how friendly the two were to each other, even in the midst of competition. Ramses, far from being a somber menace to society as depicted in every other movie, was a joyful young man enjoying sport with his only brother.
The voice cast is impressive, featuring Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum, Danny Glover, Patrick Steward, Helen Mirren, Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Ofra Haza. The plot is straightforward, supplemented by eight musical numbers.
The Significance of the Monument Scene
The answer that begins to become clear when Ramses and Moses accidentally destroy a monument that was under construction. At first I thought this was just a scene included to add some humor, after all this is a kid’s movie, however like all the best kid’s movies it includes symbolism that adults can recognize.
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The destruction of the monument is also representative of Ramses’ greatest fear: causing the collapse of his father’s empire. Ramses’ father Seti reprimands his son, focusing almost all is wrath upon Ramses and insinuating that Ramses is a weak link that could cause the collapse of his dynasty.
I love how the statue is positioned in this scene. Yet Ramses, instead of taking the out Moses gives him and blaming his brother for the result, accepts responsibility for what he’s done. He doesn’t blame Moses for angering their father, showing Ramses to be a man of integrity but at the same time exposing him as someone who holds himself to impossible standards. All of this is great storytelling because it later forms the base of Ramses decision not to free the Hebrews when Moses asks.
Ramses doesn’t release the slaves, not because he enjoys enslaving them, but because Ramses is terrified of doing the right thing. How will his Empire adapt with no more slaves to do manual labor? Would his father have approved of freeing the slaves? It doesn’t make Ramses any less wrong of course, but the fact we can see his point of view and why it’s such a tortured decision for Ramses, is exactly why the drama between them succeeds in drawing you into the story.
Ramses fear causes the very thing he was hoping to avoid.
Moses: A Deeper, More Human Portrayal
Then of course there’s Moses, star of the show, and he too is far deeper and more interesting than the Moses once depicted by Charlton Heston. Charlton Heston called down the plagues of Egypt with a casual indifference that kind of makes Moses look like a dick.
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Just as an aside, that doesn’t mean I don’t like The Ten Commandments, Moses essentially saying “hey, don’t say I didn’t warn you” and watching Egypt collapse is actually incredibly satisfying on a narrative level. Unlike Charlton Heston’s Moses, Prince of Egypt‘s Moses practically pleads with Ramses to let the Hebrews go free. Moses pleads as much for Ramses and the Egyptian’s lives as much as he pleads for his own people.
Moses doesn’t want to hurt anyone, he just wants to free his people and find a new home.
The Emotional Climax: The Death of Ramses' Son
This all culminates in what is probably the most emotional scene in the movie, when Ramses’ first born son is struck down. Moses weeps bitter tears, and I was almost right there with him, because he knows that not only is his relationship with his brother irrevocably destroyed, but because Moses knows he was complicit in the death of his own nephew.
No other Exodus story I’ve seen ever focused on the relationship between Ramses and Moses, it never occurred to me how his nephew’s death would weigh on Moses. Moses, a legend from history and fable, is revealed to be just as human as the rest of us.
His quiet stoicism vanishes as Moses weeps for all that he’s lost: his brother, his adoptive mother and father, his nephew, and even his identity as a prince of Egypt. He weeps for the pain he caused the one person he loved the most, the boy whom he had grown up with and called brother.
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This is the scene that sold me on this movie, that truly struck home the humanity of Ramses and Moses. Compared to that scene of utter devastation and grief, the parting of the Red Sea is almost an afterthought.
Analyzing the Soundtrack
Stephen Schwartz wrote the music and lyrics for the whole soundtrack. Zimmer and Schwartz responded with a greatly emotional score, rich with themes for major characters and ideas, and orchestrated in a similar manner to The Lion King, which so effectively conveyed a sense of majestic power and truly heart-wrenching pathos.
Here's a ranking of the songs from the film, according to one perspective:
- Deliver Us
- Playing With the Big Boys
- The Prince of Egypt (When You Believe) (Whitney Houston/Mariah Carey version)
- Through Heaven’s Eyes
- The Plagues
- River Lullaby
- All I Ever Wanted / Queen’s Reprise
- I Will Get There
- Red Sea
- When You Believe (movie version)
- Through Heaven’s Eyes (K-Ci & JoJo version)
- Humanity
- Death of the First Born
- The Burning Bush
- Goodbye Brother
- Cry
- The Reprimand
- Following Tzipporah
- Rally
The composer for POE’s score is the brilliant, versatile Hans Zimmer. And this is one of his best works. The music draws you into the emotion and setting of the story right away, when the gentle, awed “burning bush” theme segues into the mourning “River Lullaby” and then drops you with a thud into the aching, blistering setting of “Deliver Us.”
Mr. Zimmer can’t take all the credit; a lot of his score reuses songs that were written by Stephen Schwartz. But he uses them very well. Just look at the scene right before the burning bush: Moses kisses Zipporah good-bye and heads out to work as a shepherd. The background score is “All I Ever Wanted,” specifically the queen’s reprise, starting at the line “This is your home, my son.”
The message is clear: Moses feels at home here in his Midianite life. This is only one example of Hans Zimmer’s work as a master of leitmotif.
The "Goodbye Brother" Scene: A Moment of Irrevocable Loss
The "Goodbye Brother" scene is a culmination of the tragic events that unfold throughout the film. It encapsulates the devastation of a relationship torn apart by duty, faith, and circumstance.
The cue has segments reminiscent of the ‘Stampede’ sequence from The Lion King in terms of orchestration and its dramatic quality. At 2:05 the tempo picks up suddenly into a quick action/chase music sequence, and then at 2:34 the pace drops again, and we move into a slow elegy of sorts, which mourns the ruined relationship between Moses and Rameses and Moses’ own inner turmoil.
With a melody devoted to the cello and choral humming, it tugs at the heartstrings. At 4:00 in we hear a wailing woman, with some subtle electronic accompaniment, based around Moses’ theme, this time in a very downbeat and slightly tragic setting. A final, quiet performance on high strings with echoing drum hits finish the track with an eerie chill.
The saddest part to all this is that, while also a form of Laser-Guided Karma toward Egypt as a whole, the culling of the first born was something that Seti I had done long ago and now his grandson and his people are paying for it. Moses' breakdown gains another layer in that regard.
After Rameses rejects Moses one final time ("And a great cry shall be heard in Egypt..."), Rameses' son looks at Moses, terrified. Moses looks back, and his expression makes it clear that he knows it's the last time he'll ever see his nephew alive.
Worse still when you think about how Moses went to talk to his brother and begged him to do what God wanted so nothing worse would happen (probably aware of what the last plague would be) and how he tried to stop Rameses from saying "And a great cry shall be heard in Egypt" (because in the end, there WAS a great cry and those words would haunt Rameses forever). Seeing Moses trying to stop his brother from saying these words is awful, plus how he looks at his nephew, knowing there is nothing he can do now.
The worst part of this is, Moses knows that Rameses is about to cross the point of no return. He's giving his brother a Last-Second Chance, and when Rameses says that sentence, there can be no more chances. Moses meant it when he said Rameses has brought this on himself.
After the Hebrews' rejoicing that they've finally managed to escape, there's an air of stunned shock and horror at the thought of how many men drowned when the seas closed...and then there's the moment when Moses looks back towards the distant shore, where Rameses is screaming his name. He sighs, mutters 'Goodbye, brother,' and leaves without looking back.
Again. To be clear, there's a very good reason Rameses sounds the way he does: He lost everything. His kingdom, his first born son, his adoptive brother...Him calling out to Moses just to have something isn't out of the picture.
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